Week 2 Check-In

Somewhere around today marks week 2 without a smartphone... I stopped keeping track.

The thing is, well there's a couple things... first, life without a smartphone is pretty fuckin' annoying. I literally have to use my girlfriend's phone for my 2FA authentication for my school log-in. And since a couple of virgins hacked Canvas the other day, now I have no choice but to use 2FA ... I guess the world really is as dangerous as they tell us.

But there's some other problems I'm running in to. Now, I'm finding myself using the laptop and TV to doomscroll Reddit and YouTube. So while I still don't have a smartphone of my own, my screen time through the laptop is probably 1-3 hours a day. Not ideal. I really want to limit that.

But there have been some serious benefits, despite these annoyances. For example, when we go out to eat, I notice my brain is actually using its imagination to keep itself occupied while munching, instead of using YouTube or Reddit like it would before to mindlessly scroll. This is a pretty enjoyable experience, and if you've never experienced it before, I'd say it's worth a phone detox alone to see what your brain is capable of. I mean, seriously, it's almost as enjoyable as doomscrolling, just imagining shit in your head as you consume a Chipotle bowl.

With that being said, I'm having serious doubts about my ability to maintain a no-phone life forever. In part because of how difficult they make things without having a smartphone, and in another part because ... I kind of want a smartphone again. Like, it's nice. It's nice to have a device to contact people whenever you want, to google random things, stuff like that. But what isn't nice is the phone addiction, the monthly payment, and the cost of cell service. Perhaps all of these things will keep me from returning to the smartphone life, because I'm so dang cheap. I can't bring myself to spending money on stupid shit like an iPhone and cell service. Like many of us young adults, my phone was bought by my parents many moons ago, and I was still on my families cell-service plan. Now that I've severed that tie, if I wanted to go back, I would have to buy my own phone for like $1,000, and get my own cell service for $50/month or whatever it is. I'm not sure if my cheap ass is capable of that, at least now.

In late May we head off to Canada for three months, so that's a guarantee I'll be without a phone for at least 3 more months. But as I progress in my Master's program and near professional completion, which means looking for a (remote) job starting next year, it makes me wonder if my life would be much easier with a smartphone. Connecting with colleagues and clients in my field is going to be a hassle through Google Voice, but the thing is ... it might just be worth the price, or lack thereof. 

Sorry I haven't been writing much. I've never been the type of person who likes to keep track of m ydays and weeks ... I've never owned a calendar and I mostly wing shit as the week goes on. So cataloging each day of my life got tiresome. With that being said, I still want to provide updates here, and I'll try to do that as frequent as I can. Perhaps a few times a week, or just once a week? 

A quick shout out to our newest follower, Andrew, which puts the blog at 14 followers. Also, I wanted to give a shout-out to Poob, who shared some of his music in the Live Chat of this blog. Check him out in this sick html embeded code below (or link to his bandcamp here)